Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club: Cute Mystery, Real Questions for GameMill’s Latest

A charming dog with a checkered publisher: Why this caught my eye

Seeing GameMill’s name on a box always makes me pause. This is the publisher behind licensed swings that sometimes connect (Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2) and sometimes whiff hard (Skull Island: Rise of Kong, The Walking Dead: Destinies). So when they announced Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club, I was equal parts intrigued and skeptical. Snoopy’s a perfect fit for family-friendly puzzling-gentle humor, iconic cast, a cozy vibe-but licensed games live or die on craft, not nostalgia.

• Release date: October 10 on PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch
• Price: around €40, with physical editions planned (except on PC)
• Developer: Cradle Games, pivoting from Hellpoint to family fare after TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants
• Pitch: city-wide mysteries solved through bite-sized activities and mini-games with Snoopy, Lucy, Franklin, and friends

Key Takeaways

• Great IP fit, but success hinges on mini-game variety, smart puzzling, and Peanuts-faithful writing.
• GameMill’s track record is mixed-approach with cautious optimism.
• At ~€40, content depth and replayability need to justify more than a weekend’s playtime.
• Family features (accessibility, difficulty options, couch co-op) could make or break it for parents.

Breaking down the announcement

Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club drops you into a city hub to tackle multiple cases, stitching together puzzle-solving with mini-games that change based on the investigation at hand. This isn’t a hardcore detective sim; it reads like a family adventure that mixes simple logic tasks with action-lite interludes, the kind of thing you can pass a controller around for during a weekend. The cast list hits the classics—Lucy, Franklin, and presumably the rest of the gang—which matters because Peanuts humor works when characters bounce off each other with clean, understated gags.

Cradle Games being behind it is the curveball. The studio made the brutally atmospheric sci-fi Soulslike Hellpoint, then more recently handled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants. That’s a hard pivot from grimdark to Saturday-morning energy, which can be a good sign: teams that have shipped demanding action games often nail feel and responsiveness, even in simpler packages. The question is whether they can also capture Schulz’s tone—gentle, wry, never mean—and design puzzles that feel like sleuthing, not chores.

The real story: value and execution over vibes

GameMill’s licensed catalog tends to live on tight budgets and tighter timelines. We’ve all seen the result when those constraints show: thin content, repetitive objectives, and janky performance (Switch, I’m looking at you). A €40 price screams “mid-tier,” which is fine if there’s enough meat on the bone. The Bluey game launched at a similar price and won families over with authentic vibes and co-op, even if it was short. On the flip side, Peppa Pig-style outings can feel like interactive episodes that struggle to justify the sticker price beyond brand recognition.

For Snoopy to land, it needs three things. First, variety: if each mystery mixes different mechanics—memory challenges, pattern spotting, light stealth or chase sequences, and environmental observation—it’ll stay fresh. Second, progression: a playful case board, collectibles that tie into Peanuts lore (typewriter ribbons, flying ace mementos), and gentle difficulty ramping could keep kids engaged without losing older siblings or parents. Third, polish: clean UI, clear prompts, and stable performance across platforms. If Switch gets the short straw again, families will notice.

What gamers need to know (and what’s still missing)

The announcement leaves questions that matter to real players. Is there couch co-op or drop-in assist play, so a parent can help on a tricky mini-game? Are there accessibility options—read-aloud text, colorblind-friendly cues, remappable controls—that widen the audience? Will the humor lean on classic Peanuts rhythms (Snoopy’s flights of fancy, Lucy’s blunt wisdom, Charlie Brown’s earnestness) or generic kids’ game banter? And, crucially, how long is it? “Around €40” needs something north of a three-hour sprint unless there’s strong replayability with new case seeds or scoring challenges.

On the technical side, I’ll be watching for 60 FPS targets on PS5/Series and at least a stable 30 FPS on Switch, plus fast loads and snappy transitions between activities. Mini-game collections live and die by how quickly they get you back into the fun. If we’re waiting through long fades and world reloads every time Snoopy moves between scenes, the charm wears thin fast.

Why this matters now

There’s a quiet resurgence of mid-budget, family-focused games that don’t need a battle pass or a 100-hour grind to be worth it. If Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club nails the feel-good detective vibe, it could sit in that sweet spot—something cozy for families and a palate cleanser for anyone burned out on live-service sprawl. But GameMill’s inconsistency means this isn’t a blind pre-order. Wait for hands-on previews, check that feature list, and make sure the writing actually feels Peanuts, not just “dog with a hat solves chores.”

TL;DR

Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club lands October 10 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch for around €40, with physical editions except on PC. The premise fits the IP perfectly, but the real test is variety, polish, and family-friendly features. I’m cautiously hopeful—just not taking my wallet for a walk until I see gameplay depth and performance on Switch.